


An Interesting Conversation

by thundrstormy



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghost! Michael, Bisexual Character, Boyf friends if you squint, Evan is very guilty, Filipino Character, Gen, Ghosts, Jeremy & Evan talk about their problems and what they did just to get a girl, Jeremy is a bean and a blessing ok, Jewish Character, Oneshot for an AU story I'm workin on, Rain is nice, This the tags for now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-03-28 10:39:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13902300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thundrstormy/pseuds/thundrstormy
Summary: A run-in with a teen in the rain can turn out to get you a new friend who also did something they regret to just get a girl. And perhaps he can finally have someone who can relate to him.Lil story that's in the timeline of an AU I'm working on! Which the name is a work in progress. But for now, I'm gonna call it the Ghost! Michael AU.





	1. Run-in the Rain

It wasn't very fun. Having to be without your best friend for the rest of high school. And, it was really hard. Yeah, he had the... Squip Squad. But... Michael was gone. He was... gone, gone. And Jeremy still hated to think about it. For the rest of junior year was hectic and rocky. And honestly, he was glad he was out of that mess that had been going on. Including... ghosts. He cringed a bit. Sometimes he still saw Michael's ghost. Sometimes they talked. Sometimes Michael stared with a proud look on his face... we'll get to that.

 

Over the first few months of his Senior year, he started getting habits Michael had gradually. Going to 711 to get slushies almost on a daily basis, listening to... uh, Bob Marley. Yeah. He was doing all those things. A lot more things. Including being straight. Which, he was.. not actually straight. Dang. Was that why Michael tended to watch him with a proud expression? Well then. 

 

It was pretty rainy when he started walking to 711 like he usually did. Sometimes Christine would come with him, or Rich would. Who almost always forgot his lunch, which was almost ridiculous. Anyone else in the Squip Squad would come with him too at times, sometimes everyone came with him together. He knew they worried about him. A lot. He was just suffocating in worry after worry. And, he was glad no one was walking with him today. Because.. they noticed he slowly, was just being consumed into becoming Michael. It was like.. being possessed by his ghost. Only, him doing it on purpose. Or.. not even realizing. Jeremy had a feeling it was due to the possession thing. Not that he minded.

 

Hand's tucked into the pocket of his friend's old hoodie, he let his thoughts drift. The headphones he had helped, given to him by Michael's mom. Which, was pretty cool. Michael had pretty cool headphones. He had a lot of work to do, regarding his... organization he was making. Naming it after Michael and everything. He just... didn't want more kids dying from suicide. He wanted them to know that someone cared and loved them. 

 

Jeremy let out a gentle sigh, not really focusing on where he was going at the moment. Until he bumped into someone, almost falling over. Whoops. That's what you get for not focusing on anything, accidentally bumping into someone with the headphones on. Way to go Jeremy. Way to go. At least he didn't faceplant. That was a relive. 

 

"Oh, sorry!" The freckled face teen apologized, looking down at who he bumped into, slipping the headphones down from his ears. Oh. The disadvantages of being tall. Always having to look down. But... uh... he kinda shrunk so... he wasn't as tall anymore. Wait- was he as tall as Michael? Yup.. definitely being consumed. Though, probably just him. Or.. side effects of the possession? How did that even work? 

 

"My bad... don't apologize..." The person spoke rather softly, and awkwardly. Jeremy could relate. The teenager in front of him seemed to have a light jacket on, but it wasn't very much help in the rain and seemed to be shivering. Oh. That wasn't good. 

 

"Aren't you cold?" The taller teen asked a bit worriedly. "Ah..." The person shuffled a bit. "A little?" Jeremy smiled a bit. That was more than just a little. That was a lot. "You can come into my house if you want to get warm. The heater's probably on." Jeremy pointed to his house, which was only a few feet away. And, the heater was on. Because he kept it on for when he got back home. 

 

The person stared in slight disbelief. "B-But... I don't even know you...?" The taller teen shook his head, going up to the front door of his house, and opening it. Which didn't take much time. "It's fine!" The shorter boy followed him to the house, frowning a bit.

 

A little uncomfortable, the person shuffled in, holding his arms as he shivered a little bit. Jeremy shut the door, motioned for him to follow him to the living room, which he did. 

 

"Uh... my names Evan..." He said rather nervously as he followed the taller boy. Jeremy smiled, "Jeremy." He responded. "Oh!" Evan spoke, a little surprised and... a bit concerned. "Are you the one who.. made that organization to prevent suicide's online?" He asked, nervously. So, he knew about that? I mean, a lot of people noticed surprisingly. Which, Jeremy thought was a hugely good thing. 

 

The tall teenager nodded, sitting down on the couch. "Uh... yeah, why do you ask?" Evan shuffled in the seat he was sitting in. "The.. person.. you named it after... did you.. uh... know him well?" Jeremy frowned a bit. Of course, he knew Michael. "We were best friends.. very close... if you want proof.." The teen pulled the hoodie sleeve up to reveal his pac man tattoo. "He had one just like this. And this.. hoodie was his.. and the headphones.." Evan eyed something that he saw other than the tattoo with a slightly alarmed expression, but he didn't say anything about it.

 

"Ah.. sorry for asking... I'm sorry you had to be reminded I-" Jeremy merely smiled, shaking his head as he pulled the hoodie sleeve back down. "It's fine. But.. why did you ask about that?" Evan fumbled with his fingers awkwardly. He seemed to do a lot of that. Jeremy didn't mind it. He tended to do that too when he was nervous. "Uh.. well... I made an organization.. after someone.. and basically lied about it.. making emails about a friendship that.. uh... never existed.." Evan slightly mumbled, sounding really, really guilty.

 

"Oh." Was all Jeremy replied with. "Well, we all have done things we regret, and that's okay! Because we can make up for our mistakes. I-Including voring a computer in a pill...." Evan's brow furrowed a bit when he said the last part in confusion and surprise. "W-What?" 

 

"Yeah." Jeremy smile fell a bit more. He didn't like talking about the squippident, as it was called by the Squip Squad. But eyy, Evan was talking about his problems. So why not? "I almost let a computer inside my brain take over my school... over a girl." Evan stared, continuing to fumble with his finger. "The lying thing was to get a girl too...." 

 

An awkward silence gradually fell into the room, which lasted only for a few minutes. Until the shorter boy broke it. "You must have been really close..." Evan spoke softly, trying to change the topic, which the taller boy was glad for. Jeremy nodded, smiling as he recalled a lot of memories. "We were. Michael was my player one, and I was his player two." A lot of memories flashed through his mind. Including the bad ones, which he pushed away as fast he could. He didn't need to be reminded.

 

"I wish I was able to be like that with... uh, the person I named.. my organization after..." Evan looked really guilty. Must feel really bad still about doing that. Jeremy didn't know the details, but it seemed it had a huge impact on the teen. Which... Jeremy could relate to. A lot. Involving the squip and everything. And... Michael's... death. God, he could never fully get over it enough to not think about it, could he? 

 

"Who was he?" Jeremy asked curiously. Evan looked slightly alarmed at the question but decided to respond anyway. "His.. name was Connor.. he was a bit.. uh... mean." Jeremy frowned a bit. "Like a bully?" The shorter boy nodded, looking down. "Yeah... I wish I knew him better. He wasn't the person who he appeared to be when I think about it hard enough." 

 

"Ah.. someone who bullied me and Michael turned out to not be who we thought he was." Jeremy recalled with a slight wince at the unpleasant memories. Those memories were in the past now. Rich wasn't a bully anymore, anyways. 

 

Evan nodded. "I'm glad.. that you're not doing what... I did.." The silence was a bit more pleasant and less awkward now. Jeremy nodded as well. Michael meant a lot to him. And he wanted to help others not do what his best friend did. And... that was what Jeremy was gonna do. No one deserved that. No one.

 

"Hey.. uh... you wanna be friends?" Jeremy asked randomly out of nowhere.

 

The shorter boy looked a bit surprised, well actually really surprised. Like he never had any friends before. Which, saddened Jeremy a bit. "Oh! Uhm.. sure.." Jeremy's smiled widened a bit. "Hey.. uh... you wanna.. play some... video games?" Evan shuffled a bit in the chair more. "I.. never played video games before..." He answered, frowning a bit. Oh. That was a shame. That made him even more saddened.

 

Jeremy blinked, brow's furrowing a bit. "Oh.. are you more sporty or...?" Evan fumbled with his fingers, shaking his head. "No no! I... like trees? I'm a nature person.." 

 

"Cool." Jeremy smiled. He liked nature too... a little bit. "Maybe I can teach you how to play video games?" He questioned. Evan blinked, looking even more surprised. "I mean.. I have nothing else to do..."


	2. Breakdowns

While going through the combined stacks of video games from both him and Michael, Jeremy found one game he thought he wouldn't look at again. Apocolypse of the Damned. The game he thought he'd never touch again or even see on the screen again. And that's what the both of them, Evan and him, decided to play. Big mistake. Very big mistake. "How about this one?" Evan pointed to the game, a nervous smile on his face. The taller teen turned to look at the game, freezing up slightly, though he was sure Evan didn't notice. "Oh, sure," Jeremy answered, surprisingly able to keep his voice from stuttering and keep calm. Which, he was glad for. Thanks, acting skills.

 

Jeremy grabbed the game slowly, staring at the case. Oh, how long ago it had been when he played this game. Pleasant memories. A small smile grew on his face, as he opened the case and put the game into the game system, glancing at the beanbags he had dragged out. It had been so, so long since he played this game, hadn't it? He sat down in his own beanbag as he turned on the gaming system, grabbing two controllers and handing Evan the other one. Michael's controller. Jeremy's smile stayed on his face, though it went down just a little bit as he thought about it. But, Evan probably didn't notice. If he had, he would have said something.. maybe. 

 

"Since you've never played video games before, I can teach you how to play this one." The teen spoke simply trying to focus on the game and not on... his old best friend. "Sounds good to me." Evan nervously looked at him, before looking at the game's title screen on the tv screen. "Looks.. scary." He commented quietly. Jeremy let out some sort of huffy laugh, "Well, it's a zombie game, so... its obviously kinda scary. Not really graphic... just pixelly and all. So, you don't have to worry about that." He stated, staring at the saves he had in the game, which was only one right now: him and Michael's old save.

 

The teen closed his eyes sharply, breathing in and out. Not the best time to have a breakdown while playing video games. Besides, it was just an old save file. That shouldn't him hurt that bad, right? I mean, it wasn't like it held any bad memories. Jeremy opened his eyes and started making a new save. He was fine. And he would be fine playing. Nothing was going to happen.

 

Soon enough the two were playing. Jeremy teaching him all the basic things and how to play, since there wasn't much of a tutorial in the game unless you did singleplayer. Which, didn't really count in multiplayer. Thankfully, Evan slowly caught on to it and was actually pretty decent. Though, not great. But that didn't matter all that much. It was just his first time after all. Due to Jeremy already going through all the levels, they went through all of them pretty quickly. The ones Jeremy played, anyways. Nothing had gone wrong yet. And he wanted it to stay that way.

 

Until they got to the level that Jeremy and Michael had last been on. Level 13. Jeremy felt his breathing get uneven, and he felt his stomach twist a bit in some sort of dread. "You okay?" Evan asked nervously, a concerned a look in his blue eyes. "Yeah, I'm good." The freckled teen managed to smile and look like he was fine.. at least that's what he thought. Thank god for his pretty good acting skills (as if he had "pretty good" acting skills but still.. he could brag about it sometime or another, right?). Though, he probably didn't look that convincing as Evan looked at him still with the concerned look. But, he didn't say anything about it.

 

He remembered when they got to that level, him and Michael. He remembered playing it with him. This was a day before... before everything had gone to hell. Why hadn't he realized something was wrong on that day? Michael seemed like he was fine at first, but he looked really.. just off. The look in his eyes was just... really off, and wrong. Not like Michael at all. And Jeremy had played it off like he was just exhausted or something. But that wasn't it at all.

 

Jeremy softly dropped his controller on the ground, which wasn't much ground to drop on. Only a short bit off the ground. He felt tears go down his face. No.. he shouldn't be breaking down right now. But, he did. He did it anyway. "T-This... this was the last level me and Michael ever played on... before he... he..." He managed to choke out before he couldn't really choke out the words. And he didn't want to say it. "Oh!" He heard Evan speak, concern and horror edging its tone. 

 

Jeremy turned to look at the other teen slowly. He felt like he had no strength to do so though. "I... I may have accepted that.. he's gone... but just.. so many things remind me of him and... I-I just get this way... like a part of me still can't accept that..." He looked down at the red hoodie he had on. The only thing that didn't make his stomach twist horribly, or make tears form in his eyes. It was such comforting site. He smelled like his best friend still, and made him feel like... he was still kinda there. Even if he literally was sometimes. 

 

Evan looked awkward and unsure as he tried to pat his shoulder. Jeremy wanted to smile at the gesture, though he couldn't. Too many negative emotions.. too many things that reminded him of his dead best friend. "Is.. is okay if we call it quits on the... the game?" Evan asked rather softly. "Because you... seem in a bad place right now.. and the game probably isn't helping much at all. S-Since it reminds you of.. your friend."

 

All Jeremy could do was nod as he watched through blurriness and tears as Evan got up to turn off the game system and put the game back in its case. "I got something that may help you calm down.. is it okay if I use your phone.. uh... Jeremy?" He asked once again. "Y.. yeah.. you can..." Jeremy spoke, the tears still falling down his face.

 

Soon enough Jeremy had headphones on and he heard.. nature? That was sure quick. "Uh... nature background noises usually help me when I'm feeling sad or something... so uh... I hope it will work for you?" Evan stated, smiling a bit nervously. It was a bit calming. And it gave Jeremy enough strength to smile and say something as he wiped away some tears. "Thank you."

 

Evan looked a bit surprised. "You're.. welcome..." He responded, smiling a little wider. "I uh... got to go, so maybe we can.. play tomorrow if you're.. feeling up to it?" He asked as Jeremy nodded slowly. "Maybe.. not sure if I will though." The freckled teen replied rather quietly, standing up to put up the beanbags. Evan merely smiled, waving awkwardly as he left the room and the house. It was suddenly quiet as Evan left. Lonely, was the better word for it.

 

Once he put up the beanbags, he sat down on his bed bringing his knees to his chest. The nature background noises helped, though he still felt grief-filled and just.. terribly sad and upset. He was still crying, and all he could make himself do was just... cry. Then he thought of the method Michael did when Jeremy had breakdowns about.. the Squip and everything. "Just.. breathe in and out for me dude, can you do that?" The voice of his best friend asked. "Yeah.." He heard his self managed to say. Jeremy started doing just that. Breathing in and out. In and out, before he slowly calmed down.

 

Bringing his knees back down on the bed, wiping away the tears. He smiled a bit. He felt a little bit better. But his grief wasn't going to go away as fast as that. A little acceptance or not, he still had a lot of accepting to do still.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little angsty? But this one was a bit of an emotional one for me. Hope you like it!


End file.
